Tis the difference between Football fans and people who just blindly want England to do well at anything. I can guarantee that there will be England flags within the grounds. There always are.
Originally posted by Garage Joe: Tis the difference between Football fans and people who just blindly want England to do well at anything. I can guarantee that there will be England flags within the grounds. There always are.
I like the way also some people think we must all be thugs/drunks as well..just because we follow it.
Talk about a generalisation of about 85% of this country eh when about 5% are violent actually.
People ask for a Sports channel on the BBC but won't that mean us being "taxed" more money to fund it!?
It's a real problem of course. The price of football rights (and some other rights) is now not compatible at all with (ie. has outstripped) a tax-funded TV model.
The only reason that stuff like the Olympics and Wimbledon are still free to air is that Sky doesn't think there's enough money it for them - not enough viewers, not the right ones for advertisers etc.
In some ways, I don't think not having it free to air is as bad as it sounds. It'd still be on the radio and there are plenty of ways rfor most people to get the coverage - public viewings, pubs and clubs, their family our mates` houses etc.
In fact, I think the biggest risk would be to the integrity of the competition. It's well known that there's a bias towards club teams from wealthy western nations in the CL etc.
How long would private TV channels put up with the big / glamour nations with their big and wealthy audiences not even qualifying?
I love the Euros and World Cup but if the person/organisation that came up with this brainwave thinks that people would eagerly rush out to buy Sky just to watch the Euro's when there are no home nations in it, they are sadly mistaken. There is a lot of interest in it at the moment, but not enough for a flood of subscription applications to watch Greece v Sweden. And, as has been touched on already, Sky realise this full well. And it's unfair to make this the case for the next World Cup. some people really can't afford the monthly subscription for pay-TV and you can't exclude them. In fact, UEFA should be applauding the BBC for this stance
It would also be very possibly killing the goose that laid the golden egg too.
Part of international soccer's modern success is that it is so widely available - it's a communal thing now. Just as UEFA have known better than to make the CL PPV only.
Some sports(and their key protagonists) have had problems with their public profile since selling out to PPV.
International tournaments aside, the internationals are losing their appeal to some fans due to the big club competitions, so to make it PPV, as you say, will be killing the goose
